Improvement in sewing-machines



A. PALMER.

Sewing Machine.

' Patemd June 9 1863.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AARON PALMER, or BROOKPORT, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,837, dated June 9, 1863.

To all whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, AARON PALMER, of Brockport, in the county of Monroe and State otNew York, have invented certain new and uselul Improvements'in Sewing-Machines for Running Scams; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompartying drawings, figures and letters thereon, making part of this specification.

()t' the said drawings, Figure 1 shows a top view. Fig. 2 is an end elevation. Fig.3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a side elevation.

Similarlettersofreference indicate like parts in all the drawings.

My said invention relates to that class ot'sewing-machines wherein the cloth is corrugated and runs upon aeommon needle by means of a pair of crimping-wheels; and it consists of several improvements in the construction and arrangement of the parts, whereby I am enabled to run seams with a fine sewing-ueedleupou light goodssuch as delaines, bareges, muslin,

and other light goods of which ladies and chil drens clothes are made.

The first partofniy invention consistsin combining with the crimping and feeding wheels a horizontal screw with a' countersink in one end thereof, said horizontal screw being in itself both an adjusting and holding device,

and in the combination performs the office both of holding and adjusting the needle in proper position with respect to the crimpingwheels.

The second part of my invention consists in adjusting the crimping-wheels and feedingwheels simultaneously at one operation by means ofa set-screw and a movable frame, in which latter the mandrel of the lower crimping-wheel and the lower feed-wheel are secured and run freely in suitable bearings, the set-screw beingconnected with that part of the frame which holds thev upper crimpingwheel and upper feed-wheel, so that when it is turned the crimping-wheels and feed-wheels are simultaneously adjusted. Hitherto in this class of machines motion has been imparted from the crimping-wheels to the feed-wheels by means of a pinion driven by the crimpingwheels and gearing into the feed-wheels; but such mode of communicating power and .mo-

tion from the crimping-wheels to the feedwheels is only adapted for heavy machines for coarse work. The small crimping-wheels and feed-wheels used in my machine would soon become injured and unfit for working upon delicate material if connected in such a manner, and, besides, the teeth are too small and not of a proper shape to work well or durably ing communicated by a cran k or other suitable device to either of the mandrels drives both the crimping and feed wheels in the right direction, substantially as hereinafter descrbed.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my improved machine, I will proceed to describe the construction and operation thereof. t

A represents the bed of the machine, of iron or other metal, having projections B and D cast thereon for properly mounting parts of the machine, and to the under side thereis cast a lug, X, which is bored and tapped for the clamping-bar W, and screw V to clamp .the machine to'a common work-table.

The part B is bored to receive the mandrels a b 01, while the mandrel c has its bearing entirely in the box or bar 0, which also forms the hearing at one end of (l, the other end being in the side of the bed A. To the mandrel 61 there is secured outside of the, machine a' driving-pinion, J, and a crank, H, while the other end is provided with a small grooved gear-wheel, N, which meshes into anddri-ves a corresponding grooved gear-wheel, L, on the shaft or mandrel directly above it, and these which prevents any lateral deflection or spring of the needle.

The needle is held and adjusted at its eye end by the screw G, which works in the pro--- jection D, and has a countersink for the eye end of the needle, while the other end of the screw is provided with a head for readily adjusting the needle to the desired position-that is, so that thepoint of the needle shall be on a vertical line with the center of the corrugating-wheels L and N. The screw G, with its eountersink g, as will be readily seen, forms both a holding and adjusting device for the needle.

The projection'B is cast so as to form a bight or space, as seen at 0, Fig. 2, for the passage of material beyond the seam. Passingthrough this projection B is a screw, P, (provided with a square shank to prevent it iioin turning,)

which also passes through the box or holder 0, and a piece of rubber tubing, 0, or other spring is placed thereon, and a thin metal washer and nut, f, on the screw P serves to adjust simultaneously the crimping and feeding wheels. As the nutf on the screw is loosened the spring will force the wheels apart, and as thespring is tightened they will be brought in closer contact with each other.

The box 0, the upper part of which comes flush with the bed of the machine, and forms part of the table under the bight or space 0,"

slides vertically betweenlugsprijectingdownward cast to the bed of the machine.

Attached to the bed of the machine there is a slotted guide, E, provided with a clampingscrew, F, the office of which is to guide the edge of the material to be sewed, and thereby regulate the width of the seams.

The operation will he as follows: The operator takes acommon sewing-needle of the proper size, which is threaded, and, running back the screw G, inserts the point in the grooves in thefeeding-wheels and turnsthe crank backward, which impinges the needle and forces the point to the center of the crimping-wheels. The screw G is then run forward until the eye end ofthe needle rests in the countersink thereof. The cloth is then passed to and crimped by the wheels L and N and forced upon the needle until the feeding-wheels Kand M grasp and feed it forward upon the remaining part of the needle until full, as shown by the blue line in Fig. 4. The screw G may then be eased up a little to relieve the eye end of the needle, and the material pulled from the needle onto the thread, and the screw returned to its original position or the crank may be backed up, which will withdraw the eye of theneedle from the countersink in the screw G (the spring a readily yielding to accommodate the increased sized of the needle,) and the material drawn upon the thread. The crank being started in the forward direction for afresh needlcful carries the eye end of the needle directly into the countersink in the end of the screw G,which forms a holder for that end of the needle, and slight practice will enable a person to run up seams rapidly.

1 would remark that in order to leave as much as desirable of a common sewing-needle unobstructed and frce'froin the machine the feed ing and crimping wheels must be as small as can be made ot'sut'ticient strength to work well. 1 make them about Ihreeeighths ofan inch indiameter, and cut the teeth of such depth that the stitches will be, say, one-sixteenth of an inch apart, or thereabout, which is near the ordinary distance for running stitches.

Having thus fully described my improved machine, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A horizontal screw having a countersink for the eye end of the needle, in combination with the feeding and crimping wheels, when described.

AARON PALMER. [L. 3.1

Witnesses:

(J. A. DENGIN, F. U. TREADWELL, Jr. 

